The bike path that ate Boulder, part II

What is the future of Boulder? As the area with the eighth-highest
per capital car registration in the nation (American Demographics
Magazine, 12/3/84), are we driving our once "laid-back"
city into the hole that is suffocating Los Angeles? We who regularly
climb the foothills above town know that "Denver's"
famous Brown Cloud actually extends as far as the eye can see-
from Golden to Fort Collins- about half the dirty days of winter.
Does Boulder deserve its reputation as E-Town, or is it really
C-town, Car-town?

Boulder also has a reputation as a bicycling town- more world
class cyclists live here than any other city in the world. There
are about 100,000 bicycles for 85,000 people, yet only 10% of
us use our bikes for transportation.

At the February 4th City Council study session on the proposed
Downtown Plan, the stickiest issue was a North-South bike path
to link the Broadway and Creek Paths to the Mall and North Boulder.
The Indian Peaks Group of the Sierra Club, the CU Environmental
Center Board and Bolder Bicycle Commuters' preferred plan is to
close 13th Street from Walnut to Spruce Street to motor vehicles,
and build a pedestrian Mall there with a bike path down the center.

These groups consider the '13th-14th Street couplet' option favored
by downtown businesses unacceptable- this is essentially the status
quo, with a few signs and perhaps a reversal of traffic flow.
It doesn't work- about half the cyclists ride the 'wrong' way
South on 13th or the sidewalk, rather than take the 14th St. Detour.
At a City-sponsored Open House in September, more people favored
the closure option than all others put together- 57%.

Councilman Greenlee posed the best question of the night: Are
we just connecting up the bike path or are we trying to encourage
alternate modes of travel? If the latter, he said, let's see a
package of incentives.

Here's my list:

1. Close 13th St downtown, and create obstructions every several
blocks further north to discourage through traffic while encouraging
cycling and permitting resident auto access. Neighbors have been
complaining of drivers using 13th as an alternate to Broadway
and speeding. Eventually this pattern could extend the length
of 13th, making a Bike Parkway from Chautauqua Park past Beach
Park and connecting via the Broadway Bike Path to Central Park
and North Boulder Rec Center.

2. Permit cyclists to treat a red light as a stop sign, and a
stop sign as a yield sign. This would legalize the natural behavior
of cyclists in avoiding the crush of traffic and pollution at
intersections, as well as provide an incentive to cycle. Municipal
Court Judge Richard Hanson supports this- he says any law that
can't get 85% voluntary compliance is wrong. It is noteworthy
that Mr. Hanson bicycled regularly until the last few years- he
says it's too dangerous for him now.

3. Lower speed limits by 5 mph citywide- a further incentive to
not drive. Why race to the next red light anyhow?

4. Change City financial priorities. An example is the Department
of Public Works 1992 maintenance budget request for $450,000 for
medians versus only $191,000 for bikeways and $142,000 for sidewalks.
A median is largely a poor excuse to install an expensive sprinkler
system to water Kentucky bluegrass, the pavement and pesky cyclists.
$450,000 could free the on-street paths of gravel and ice and
encourage winter cycling, as well as provide needed signs and
fix dangerous areas.

5. Change City law to limit parking built for new construction
instead of forcing builders to pave plenty of the paradise left
here for parking lots. San Diego and Portland both set maximum
parking versus our minimum requirements.

6. Get the University to discourage new students from bringing
cars- CU has just spent 8.4 million dollars on 2 huge garages,
while CSU in Fort Collins plans to phase out campus driving altogether.

7. Free the City Bicycle Program to really advocate for cyclists:
Why must they remain neutral in the downtown struggle while the
Planning Department and Downtown Management Commission advocate
the 'couplet', even though closure much better implements Planning's
own 9 strategies for improving downtown?

Can Boulder avoid suffocation and gridlock? You bet- in a single
year bus ridership went up 42% with the Eco-Pass and Student Pass
programs. But this still represents only 3% of all transportation
'trips' here, while cyclists already comprise 10%. A Harris poll
in 1990 showed 10 times more Americans would cycle if facilities
were improved. Seattle, a huge rainy city, is doing it. Compact,
dry, young and athletic Boulder should too!

We need to work together- cyclists, pedestrians, roller-bladers,
wheel-chair users and skate-boarders must become allies and stop
fighting over the crumbs while cars hoard the cake, space-wise.

Now is the time to write letters to newspapers and the City Council,
which has a study session on Alternate Modes Feb 25 and one on
the 13th St issue March 31. Please also attend upcoming hearings
of the Downtown Management Commission, the Downtown Design Advisory
Board, the Planning Board, and finally, City Council hearings
in April. You can always talk to me at 444-3596.

Evan has 2 bikes and no car. He looks forward to the day when
he'll have more time to walk.